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LU FFA Update!

January 2019

Spotlight: The Greenhand Ceremony

On December 12th, the FFA chapter held the Greenhand Ceremony in the high school auditorium where all of the freshman FFA members received their Greenhand Degrees. The officers performed the ceremony and then the secretary called the Greenhand recipients up one by one to get their certificate and a group photo. After the picture, everyone gathered in the high school cafeteria for cake and punch. Congratulations to the Greenhands!

Right now the officers of the officer team are working on their officer books. The officers turn in their books and get a rating on how well they have recorded data throughout the year. The Secretaries’ book includes; data from this year's meeting attendance, each meetings agenda, and each officers’ work from throughout the year. The Reporters’ book includes the tweets from throughout the year, the monthly newsletters, pictures taken this year, and news articles sent out. The last book is the Treasurers’ book which includes: all of the year's money related information. For example, the treasurer would put in his book how much the FFA chapter earned from its Fruit sale.

At the beginning of December, both of the chapters’ parliamentary procedure teams competed at the state Parliamentary Procedure CDE competition. The novice parliamentary procedure team earned second place in their heat. The advanced parliamentary procedure team earned fifth in the state. Congratulations to both teams!

There are a few CDE’s that will be starting up soon. The first one is the Public speaking CDE. This CDE is all about getting students out of their comfort zone and having them talk in front of others. The student with the best ability to talk in front of others is the winner. The second upcoming CDE is the Ag Industrial Power CDE. This CDE involves a team and sees how well that team can troubleshoot a tractor.

January's’ Ag class spotlight is on the Mechanics I class. In Mechanics I, the students are currently taking apart their engines. As the students take the engines apart they are cleaning each part so that the engine is easier to put back together. Taking apart and putting the engine back together will teach the students how engines work.

Currently, all FFA members are updating their Agricultural Experience Trackers. The students do this and then show the trackers to the state FFA organization. The state FFA will then decide if the member has earned their State degree. The state degree is the second highest degree an FFA member can earn. Some members going for the state degree include Derek Burns, Wyatt Sims, Mackenzie Barber, Alyse Looney, Jacob Walter, Michael Hiles, Skylar Bader, Kelton French, and Cy Putnam.

The highest degree an FFA member can earn is the American Degree. Less than one percent of students in FFA earn this degree. Updating the trackers also allows students who have already received their state degrees to see what they need to do to earn their American Degree. Students getting ready to apply for their American Degree include Ali Ety, Cole Peardon, Bre Blansette, Brooke Price, Kaylee Savage, and Chaise Whorer.

Many students are trying to obtain a proficiency award this year. A proficiency award is an honor given to students who excel in their SAE (Supervised Agriculture Experience) projects. Each SAE project is completed outside of the school day. Students work on these projects throughout the year and spend many of their own resources on these projects. The students going for an award and their category include: Derek Burns for the dairy and sheep proficiency award; Brandt Coffman for the Turf and Ag Mechanics award; Mackenzie Barber for the Diversified Livestock award; Brooke Blansette for the Equine Placement award; Kortnie Coffman for the Floriculture award; Jacob Walter for the Diversified Agriculture award; Mya Gorsuch for the Veterinary Medicine award; and Gavin Geiger for the Ag Mechanics Repairs and Maintenance and Beef Entrepreneurship awards. Good luck to these students!